Images of Republican Women During the Spanish Civil War

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Images of Republican Women During the Spanish Civil War Article Becoming visible and real: Images of Republican Women during the Spanish Civil War MARTIN MORUNO, Dolorès Abstract Following Donna Haraway’s (1988) doctrine of embodied objectivity, I analyze the construction of the notion of woman in the visual culture produced during the Spanish Civil War, by considering different women’s roles as militiawomen, political leaders, nurses, and workers in the munitions factories. A selection of photographs of the Republican women during the Spanish Civil War reveals how the modern wars of the first half of the 20th century should not be considered exclusively a male domain because women became publicly visible and a political power in their fight against fascism. As it occurred with other North American and European women during World War I and World War II, Spanish women joined the labor forces with the outbreak of the Civil War, becoming aware of their subjugated position for the first time in history. Therefore, the images depicting Republican women mirrored not only the legal and social rights conquered by women since the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic in 1931, but they also embodied their emancipation and, furthermore, the roots of Spanish Feminism, a movement which has been [...] Reference MARTIN MORUNO, Dolorès. Becoming visible and real: Images of Republican Women during the Spanish Civil War. Visual Culture & Gender, 2010, vol. 5, p. 5-15 Available at: http://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:28796 Disclaimer: layout of this document may differ from the published version. 1 / 1 Visual Culture & Gender, Vol. 5, 2010 Reading Gender in Spanish War Photography an annual peer-reviewed international multimedia journal This article explores the representation of Republican women during the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) through a selection of photo- BECOMING V ISI B LE AND REAL : graphs, in order to show their political participation in the conflict and, IMAGES OF REPU B LICAN WOMEN DU R ING THE SPANISH CI V IL WA R furthermore, to interpret their particular experience in wartime (see Figure 1). The relevance of a visual analysis on this subject stems from DOLORES MARTÍN MORUNO the premise that these images could illuminate the ways in which women became visible in Spanish society during the war. Therefore, I will consider these photographs as “visual possibilities, each with a wonder- ful, detailed, active, partial way of organizing worlds” according to the embodied nature of all vision (Haraway, 1988, p. 583). The Spanish Civil War was a complex historical process, which Abstract broke out with the offensive led by right-wing officers of the Spanish Army against the Second Republic on the 18th July 1936. When the Following Donna Haraway’s (1988) doctrine of embodied objectivity, I coup d’état was declared, the Spanish Republic Government remained analyze the construction of the notion of woman in the visual culture pro- completely paralyzed and the first reaction came from the population, duced during the Spanish Civil War, by considering different women’s including women and children, who took up in arms against the rebels roles as militiawomen, political leaders, nurses, and workers in the mu- in the main cities of Spain. On the home front and, in particular, in the nitions factories. A selection of photographs of the Republican women city of Barcelona, Anarchist and Socialist workers collectivized factories during the Spanish Civil War reveals how the modern wars of the first and industries, proclaiming the Spanish Social Revolution (Chomsky & half of the 20th century should not be considered exclusively a male do- Pateman, 2005). Despite the initial enthusiasm of the population against main because women became publicly visible and a political power in the rebel troops led by General Francisco Franco, the Social Revolution their fight against fascism. As it occurred with other North American and became a multifaceted conflict, which was more than a simple civil war, European women during World War I and World War II, Spanish women but also the political arena involving international forces such as Benito joined the labor forces with the outbreak of the Civil War, becoming aware Mussolini’s Italian Fascism, Adolf Hitler’s Nazism, and the Stalinism of their subjugated position for the first time in history. Therefore, the im- coming from Moscow.1 As it is well known, this international dimension, ages depicting Republican women mirrored not only the legal and social which would play a decisive role in the World War II, finally gave the rights conquered by women since the proclamation of the Second Spanish victory to Franco’s Fascism on the 1st April 1939. Republic in 1931, but they also embodied their emancipation and, fur- In the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, the Republican women thermore, the roots of Spanish Feminism, a movement which has been were twofold losers, because they suffered not only the sexist prejudices repressed for a long-time by Francisco Franco’s dictatorship (1939-1975). of their male Republican comrades during the war, but also the further 1. I have presented a paper about the complexity of the historical reconstruction of the Keywords: Visual Culture; Gender Studies; Spanish Civil War; Women’s war expe- Spanish Civil War “George Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia: Rethinking the Spanish Civ- rience; Spanish Feminism; Second Spanish Republic. il War” in the International Conference “Orwell, a political conscience of the XXth cen- tury,” which took place in the University of Lille III (19-20 March, 2010). The abstract can be consulted at http://evenements.univ-lille3.fr/colloque-george-orwell/?Abstracts IMAGES OF REPU B LICAN WOMEN DU R ING THE SPANISH CI V IL WA R DOLORES MARTÍN MORUNO 6 repression of Franco’s dictatorship (1939-75), which forced them to However, it was during the Crimean War (1854-56), when personalities return to the domestic sphere, suppressing their identity as active such as Roger Fenton (1819-69) used photography oriented to ideologi- workers in society. Moreover, Franco’s dictatorship exerted a brutal cal purposes. Fenton is known as “[…] the first war photographer having repression against the memories of these women during almost forty been sent to Crimea in early 1855 by the British government […],” who years, enforcing the collective historical amnesia on the active presence was charged with the official mission “[…] to give another, more positive of women leaders, women’s organization’s and mass female mobilization impression of the increasingly unpopular war […]” (Sontag, 2003, p. 48). during the Civil War (Ackelsberg, 1991; Nash, 1995). Thus, Fenton as the first war photographer “was faced with transforming My goal in the study presented here is to uncover the memories the real into the symbolic, and with finding or staging heart-rending of these Republican women through a selection of photographs, follow- incidents,” establishing photography as a central element of modern ing Donna Haraway’s approach, i.e. “a feminist writing of the body that propaganda (Warner, 2002, p. 46). Later, with the American Civil War metaphorically emphasizes vision” in order to produce, what she calls (1861-1865), photography became an essential instrument in the army to “situated knowledges” (Haraway, 1988, pp. 581-2). According to this record war experience and with the Great War (1914-18), photography is thesis, I will interpret these images differently, with other eyes, in order democratized through the amateurs’ albums created by the soldiers on the to analyze the cultural ways in which the notion of women has been frontlines of the war. constructed during the Spanish Civil War (Bloom, 1988). This partial Unlike earlier wars, the Spanish Civil War was “the first war to perspective will allow us to see how women “have been there,” engaged be extensively and freely photographed for a mass audience” (Brothers, with the Republican cause throwing light upon spaces, where they 1997, p. 2). Well-known non-Spanish photographers engaged with the exerted political action during the war (Haraway, 1988; Barthes, 1964). Republican ideal including Robert Capa (1913-1954), Gerda Taro (1910- Seen in this light, Spanish women became visible as trousered militia- 1937), Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004), and Spanish photojournalists, women, political leaders, wartime nurses, and as workers producing including José Díaz Casariego (1905-1970), who immortalized moments munitions. With this aim in mind, I will contextualize the selected through their lenses that have been recorded deeply in our collective photographs for in-depth analysis by first introducing the relationships memory, such as Capa’s Falling Soldier (1936). In comparison to other between war and photography with a specific focus on how women have conflicts, the visual culture produced during the Spanish Civil War is an been represented in the visual culture produced during the wars that ideal context to explore the transformations on the same notion of war, occurred in the first half of the 20th century. because images were used as instruments of persuasion and propaganda. In this respect, images became weapons for fighting in a modern way, Photography and War i.e., when war is understood as a visual event (Virilio, 1989).2 Some technological progress made this photography revolution possible such as The interest of photography for analyzing the phenomenon of the commercialization of new cameras like the Leica, which were easier war has been sufficiently well established by several works, such as to use and could take a number of photographs in a short time period. those of Caroline Brothers (1997), Mary Warner (2002), and Susan In this war of images, the representation of women took a central Sontag (2003). Photography and war have maintained a longstanding 2. Another International Conference was celebrated last year in commemoration of the relationship, which has its roots in the Mexican-American War (1846- end of the Spanish Civil War in the Trinity College of Dublin, Agonía Republicana: 48), when newspapers included for the first time lithographs in order to Living the Death of an Era, where I have presented an interpretation of photographs inform public opinion about the conflict.
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